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ok, there's only one thing to say, even though this is a Boba Fett site....THAT IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME!!!!!!! I've been interested if anyone had made a realistic Iron Man, and here it is. I can't wait to see the finished product....I'M ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT!!!!

Sorry guys n gals, the armor has taken the backseat for a short bit while I get myself out of poverty, heh. Just started a new job recently from being unemployed for too long so I am finally starting to get some leisure money back. My freetime to work on this as well has been cut very short, so it's hard to get time to work on the armor.

On the other hand, I dressed up in as much of the costume as I had done for the Halloween party, but am sadly waiting ona select few people for pictures of me in it. If I get the urge I will toss it on and try to take some pictures myself. I will say that the hand lights were pretty cool and useful! To make the grand entrance, my roomate wanted to turn the lights off and have me enter from upstairs in the dark, so being behind the helmet blue tinted lenses with limited visability meant I couldn't see the stairs at all. So I used the hand beams to light my path!

The mask still irks the **** outta me, I dunno if I can get the perfection I want out of the Sintra material, but I guess I should just be happy with what I have. The hardest part I am trying to figure out, is the armor "diaper" of sorts to cover the crotch and butt area. Cause I want the armor to be reasonably comfortable, definately flexible, and able to sit down in.

So far though the armor feels great, really feels like you are suited up in some heavy duty armor that could take a beating. And really, it prolly could take a beating from fists and baseball bats, maybe even stop a knife, just can't repel bullet yet, but I'm workin on that .

So a little bit of an update, and a couple of pics. A friend stopped by on new years and checked out the armor and thought it was really good, so I got a lil boost to start work on it again. Not too much really, but these are both of the lower legs complete with rotating knee cap. I'm trying to decide whether to attach the upper legs to the lowers permanently, but I fear it will make them too difficult to get into, as getting into the lower legs alone isn't overly simple (although not really too difficult either).

The size of my pot for boiling water is putting limitations on the size of pieces I can use, so it looks like the upper legs will be comprised of several pieces riveted together. This is also why the lower leg / shin piece in two seperate pieces, as I found out the hard way couldn't fit one large piece into my pot. Still contemplating putting the little wings on the left and right side on the bottom of the lower legs to match the movie armor, as well as the under-flap in the middle.

Anyways, first pic is of me actually wearing the lower legs (overhead shot), there are nice soft kneepads connected to the inside to strap on to your leg/knee to insure a tight, flexible, and comfortable fit. Second pic is of me wearing them again but from the front. Last pic is better lighting and just of two leg pieces sitting on the ground. Enjoy!

So a little bit of an update, and a couple of pics. A friend stopped by on new years and checked out the armor and thought it was really good, so I got a lil boost to start work on it again. Not too much really, but these are both of the lower legs complete with rotating knee cap. I'm trying to decide whether to attach the upper legs to the lowers permanently, but I fear it will make them too difficult to get into, as getting into the lower legs alone isn't overly simple (although not really too difficult either).

The size of my pot for boiling water is putting limitations on the size of pieces I can use, so it looks like the upper legs will be comprised of several pieces riveted together. This is also why the lower leg / shin piece in two seperate pieces, as I found out the hard way couldn't fit one large piece into my pot. Still contemplating putting the little wings on the left and right side on the bottom of the lower legs to match the movie armor, as well as the under-flap in the middle.

Anyways, first pic is of me actually wearing the lower legs (overhead shot), there are nice soft kneepads connected to the inside to strap on to your leg/knee to insure a tight, flexible, and comfortable fit. Second pic is of me wearing them again but from the front. Last pic is better lighting and just of two leg pieces sitting on the ground. Enjoy!

Paco instead of using a pot of boiling water have you thought about picking up a heat gun and trying that?

Paco instead of using a pot of boiling water have you thought about picking up a heat gun and trying that?

I didn't have much luck with a heat gun. The distribution of heat was uneven, and the plastic got too hot too fast.

I've been able to bend Sintra by putting it in the oven at 200 degrees Fahrenhiet for about 2 or 3 minutes. You can make a cardboard or chipboard shape, then lay the sintra on top of it. Paper ignites at 451 degrees, so the wood, cardboard, chipboard or newspaperboard should not catch fire. It will get warm, but not ignite.

Let heat and gravity help and this stuff will kind of bend itself around the shape. If you are using 3mm Sintra, just increase the time in the oven, NOT the temperature. Trust me on that.

Keep an eye on your sintra. At 195-200 degrees, it should not get so hot that it begins to bubble, any hotter, and it will ruin it. Water boils at 212 degrees F, so with the oven at 200 -210. If you're worried about fumes, it's about the same thing as immersing sintra in boiling water.

yeah, I have not tried the oven method as I do worry about the fumes, it may just be silly, but I worry about the fumes and possibly causing the insides of the oven to become toxic and then when I throw my oven pizzas in there, I don't want to have to worry about getting sick.

The heat gun was actually the first thing I tried, but it came out to be pretty difficult IMO. It took quite a while to heat the pieces up to where I could form them, but then reheating "quickly" to reform again right after the first time took too long. As well trying to heat up large pieces so I can bend/form it all at once wasn't very feasable. Then I heated up a spot a bit too long and it started to burn/melt the Sintra and left a nasty brown spot with bubbles. I ended my heat gun dealings at that point and switched to boiling water.

I hope to get alot of progress done in February, then maybe get alot of painting done in March, and hopefully have it most the way ready for April to prepare it for the movie's release on May 2nd. Not sure what I will do with it once it's finished though, I prolly won't be wearing it to the movies heh.

If I have the time, I will prolly be doing the facemask over again. I'm having one hell of a time getting the Sintra to do want I want it to for the facemask and haven't gotten around to trying to plan out a better construction of the facemask using multiple pieces of Sintra instead of one.

On the bright side, every couple weeks a new image is released from Marvel with a different look or angle of the Iron Man armor which is really helping me with how to get this armor together and it be somewhat comfortable while wearing as well as fully flexible and have the ability to sit down in it. All of which is pretty difficult when using Sintra to creat an armor that encases every inch of the body.

nothing really at the moment, work, sleep, laziness, and other projects have kinda gotten int he way of me making progress on the armor. Setbacks of making pieces that don't come out as expected or are too small or too tight have really put me off. Spending a couple of hours working on a piece only to find it's only use is as scrap material now gets really old.

I'm having difficulty creating upper leg parts that fit nicely, aren't too tight, will rotate to allow you to sit, and are also easy to put on and take off hasn't gone so well. I am thinking about maybe making the upper legs only front and side pieces, but leaving the backside open with tie strings or something. Biggest problem so far is finding a way to make the upper legs attachable to ones leg, without too much effort or without the need for a friend to help you put pieces on.

lol thanks for the comment. The original poster used sintra i used only poster board. but his armor is cool too, i just need to finish on the shoes and then the butt and croach area. then im 100% done hehehe